Apple increases prices for Macs and iPads, blaming a shortage of memory chips - AP News

Apple announced price increases for its Mac and iPad products in 2026, citing a shortage of memory chips driven by the rapid expansion of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. The Cupertino-based... Read original →

The AI compute boom is dragging consumer electronics into a cost quagmire. The memory shortage isn’t about wafer capacity—it’s a structural price surge driven by AI data centers hoarding HBM and DDR5, starving NAND and DRAM supplies for devices. Apple’s price hikes reveal its vulnerability in lacking storage vertical integration. While TSMC (Taiwan, China) dominates 3nm logic production, it can’t alleviate bottlenecks controlled by SK Hynix and Micron. U.S. export controls amplify supply chain fragility by inflating global compliance costs, forcing Apple to rethink sourcing diversification. Samsung may seize share in premium tablets and PCs, while Qualcomm and MediaTek accelerate AI PC SoCs to erode Apple’s ecosystem premium. Over the next 18 months, consumers will face an 'AI tax'—a hidden $20–50 per device funding infrastructure demand. This marks a post-Moore shift: semiconductor value is migrating from logic to memory and interconnect.